Her Fate
by Cristinne
Summary: The red string of fate that connects people to one another... Haru doesn't know what to make of it anymore.


**o.O My first ever KHR fic... I'm kinda nervous. But ah well. **

**Disclaimer: If I owned KHR, there would be a lot more Haru loving. But sadly, I don't. And so I settle for fanfiction.**

**Enjoy ^^**

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><p><strong>Her Fate<strong>

It is said that for each person, there is an invisible red string connecting him or her to their destined other half, to their soulmate... In other words, a red string of fate. It connects people's hearts, regardless of time, distance or circumstances and it will never break. It is a romantic idea, really, and giggling school girls could be heard from time to time wondering to whom their string is attached to.

She is five when she first hears about it.

Her mother told her stories every night before bed, and this was one of them. She explains the concept of soulmates, of destined lovers, of the thread tied around her little finger and Haru looks at her hand, frowning when she saw nothing tied to it.

"It's invisible;" her mother said, not missing the gesture "and you won't find it until you're much older." She nods and closes her eyes, hearing her mother's whispered good night and the closing of the door, but she does not sleep; her mind is filled with princes and fairy tales and red strings, and of a thread suddenly appearing on her finger when she grows up. She smiles, convinced that one day it will.

She is seven, and she is insulted.

"No! I'm not lying! And don't call me stupid!"

The boy merely laughs cruelly, pulling a face just to annoy her more. He jumps to her and grabs the book on fairy tales she was holding.

"Hahi! Give that back! That's mine!"

"These fairy tales are trash! They're not true, they belong to the trash!" And, running a few meters away, he throws the book to the ground and sticks his tongue out at her.

A few moments later, he finds her fist colliding painfully with his face; needless to say, no one ever dared bother her again after that.

She is ten when she last sees the retreating back of her mother out the door.

"Kaa-san... where are you going...?"

"Haru... just because the red strings exist, doesn't mean you'll ever find out who's attached to it. I'm sorry."

A single, sad smile, a quick hug... and she was out of the door. She never saw her again.

The following months were spent in silent grief, and though both father and daughter were hurting immensely inside, neither one was willing to show it. They went on with their lives, finding even a little bit of solace in the quiet meals they had with each other and the smiles they still gave. She turned to costume making and doubled her crazy antics; he turned to his work. Neither one cried, at least not in the presence of the other.

Almost a year had passed, and Haru got up from bed late one night for a glass of water. Tiptoeing past her father's bedroom so as not to wake him up, she stopped abruptly and frowned, standing still as sounds of her father's sobbing drifted out through the cracks under his door.

_Just because the red strings exist, doesn't ever mean you'll ever find out ever find out who's attached to it..._

Only then does she stop checking her finger every time she speaks to a boy.

She is fourteen when she thinks she has found him.

"I will save Haru with my dying will!"

Her heart pounded rapidly against her ribcage, the sounds of her desperate splashes the only thing louder than the frantic beating. Even in the midst of danger, her mind flashed back to her mother, and to the supposed red string; out of a habit long forgotten, she glances at her little finger and sees nothing. Not that she was expecting it to appear, but she knew she had finally found him.

"Tsuna-san! I love you!"

She was not stupid, she knew of such things as the suspension bridge effect and all that, but for now she felt like she loved him and in time, he would love her back. He was her destined partner after all, wasn't he? She may not see the string, but she knew it was there. Or at least it felt like it was.

She is nineteen when she learns the truth the hard way.

"I'm sorry... I - I only like Kyoko-chan..."

She smiles, a huge grin that does nothing to conceal the sadness in her eyes, the hurt of having your first love reject you all too apparent in her lighthearted "It's alright" and hurried goodbye. She doesn't cry until she reaches the bank in which she first fell in love with him; only then does she sit, legs pulled up to her chest, a sad smile on her face even as tears stream down from her eyes. Once more, she glances at her finger; there wasn't anything there, of course, and she feels like someone had cut her string... but perhaps it wasn't cut after all, it just really didn't exist.

The sun set to the west, the sky a beautiful myriad of colors, but she saw none of it; her head was down, eyes closed, the still air rent with her quiet sobs.

She is twenty one, and she glances at her romance novels for the first time since that day.

She knew she has grown up, and as a testament to this, she cut her hair short. Recovery from her heartbreak had been long and hard, but one day she was seized with the desire to have her hair cut, and cut it she did; a heavy weight seemed to fall from her shoulders with every chunk that dropped to the floor. That very same day, she skipped to her favorite bakery, in pursuit of that day's special cake; she had drowned her sorrow in her mafia work, relentlessly researching for whatever they needed and going on various missions that she had not had Haru Appreciation Day for more than a year now.

The shop was quiet, just as she had remembered it; the tempting smell of various pastries hung in the air, and she closed her eyes for a second just for the sake of remembering. The chimes above the door rang, a signal that someone had just come in; ignoring the sound, she moved closer to the shelves and began to choose.

"Haru?"

She turned, and there he was, his chocolate-brown eyes as full of warmth as she had remembered it. At his side, holding on to his arm was the orange-haired beauty she considered her best friend, a slightly guilty look on her face. A brief silence ensued as the three stared at each other and the scene was much too familiar, almost exactly like the first time the two girls had met that though her heart gave a little squeeze of agony, her face broke out in a wide and genuine smile.

"Hahi! Kyoko-chan, Ts-tsuna-san! It's Haru Appreciation Day!"

A slight stutter with his name, but they didn't seem to notice; both broke out in wide smiles and stepped closer to her. Kyoko threw her arms around her best friend; they had had minimal contact the past year, what with Haru's new job at the mafia and Kyoko's new role as the Tenth's girlfriend. She gave out a small sob into Haru's shoulder.

"I missed you so much, you know!"

Haru squeezed tighter, realizing only then how much she had missed her friends; Lambo's complaints over math, I-Pin's scolding, the lighthearted laughter of Yamamoto, their fights with Gokudera (although they both knew that they just did it for fun nowadays) and most importantly...

She looked up from Kyoko's shoulder, her eyes meeting Tsuna's. If anything, she had missed these two the most. He was smiling, relief all-too apparent on his handsome face. He mouthed a silent "thank you" and she nodded, releasing Kyoko and dragging her excitedly to the shelves. It was their Appreciation Day, after all.

Today, she is twenty-four, ten years older than when she first "found" her string.

She sat on the very same bank that held so much memories for her; here she experienced her first love, and here she lost it. It was only fitting that she would be here today.

She looked at her finger, thinking of her red string; it was the first time in three years that she ever thought of it again. She smiled sadly, before she made a decision and a determined look came over her; gripping her right pinkie, she mimed pulling something off and repeated the gesture with her left. Staring for a moment at the imaginary strings now in her hands, she threw them at the river and imagined them carried away by the current.

"Yosh!" She exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air.

She would not be bound by things like "fate" and "destiny" again; she chose her own fate, and it didn't matter anymore if she was destined to be with someone or not. She would live her life as she would see fit, no longer held by silly childhood fantasies and dreams.

"They can't be removed, you know."

She twirled, and behind her stood a man she had known for as long as she had known Tsuna; a man who, she had never even realized, had been by her side all those years of delusions. She didn't reply, however, and turned back to the water, the blue of the river sparkling under the setting sun. She didn't need to.

"Haru-nee!"

"Haru!"

"Haru-chan!"

"Yosh! Greet Kyoko's friend a happy birthday, to the EXTREME!"

They both turned to the calls, and her eyes widened with happiness as her friends slid down to where they were, laughing and talking like they were teenagers again; and for that moment, she thought that perhaps she had been looking at things wrongly after all; her destiny was to be with them, here, connected to all of them, and that was more than what she ever wanted.

Red strings on her finger or not.

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><p><strong>Soo. Anyone wanna guess who that man with Haru is?<strong>

**Actually, I got the inspiration from a picture I found at DeviantArt, here's the link: http: / / xx Devils Angel 28 xx. deviantart. com/ art / Haru-s-Red-String- 211484768 (just remove the spaces.)**

**How's this? Good, bad, exceedingly bad, tell me! Flames are fine, as long as it's constructive. (Not exactly clear on what flames really mean, actually, aside from the fact that it's negative. Haha.)**

**Thank you for reading! ^^**


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